Two best friends, Abdullah and Asad, studied together in 10th grade. Abdullah was a talented student and always got the highest marks in his class. After the end of a term, he often received an award and his parents and teachers would be proud of him. Everyone knew Abdullah well in school because of his intelligence and wanted to be friends with him.

Asad, on the other hand, was stubborn and never listened to his parents. He never completed his assignments, nor followed the deadlines given by his teachers so he was always being punished in class.

Asad’s parents were becoming concerned about his careless attitude and lack of interest towards studies. They always found him playing video games instead of reading the books they got for him.

Abdullah was getting tired trying to motivate Asad to study. He gave Asad several examples of people who became successful by being well-read, for instance, Bill Gates (one of the richest people in the world who started Microsoft), Elon Musk (a rocket scientist and CEO of SpaceX), etc. Abdullah explained to his friend that reading enhances one’s vocabulary, it relaxes them, gives ideas, improves communication skills and makes them better thinkers.

The problem was that Asad was addicted to using either the cell phone or laptop during leisure time. This was why he was unable to secure good marks in exams.

On the other hand, Abdullah was not only intelligent, but he was an inquirer and liked to ask questions during class discussions too. During their library period, Abdullah would get a novel issued while Asad would gather his classmates and discuss the games that he played on the mobile phone. During break time, Asad would be busy playing and often skipped having the lunch his mother gave and so he would feel dizzy in class.

Being his best friend, Abdullah tried to develop Asad’s interest towards studies and reading, and brought interesting books from home so that they could read together during their free time, but Asad was so obsessed with technology that he found reading totally boring. Abdullah would warn him not to waste time playing games as it would affect his performance in the final exams and in future he would find it difficult to get admission in a reputable college or university.

But Asad didn’t care about it until one day the principal confiscated Asad’s mobile phone as he was caught playing games during a lesson. The principal scolded him and sent a warning letter to his parents. Asad became upset at this.

But he had much bigger problems waiting for him as his board exams were starting in a few days and he had wasted all his time playing video games. On the day of the first paper, when they got the exam paper Asad only attempted the questions he knew and left the others. However, Abdullah had prepared well and attempted all the questions. When the results were announced, Asad got average marks while Abdullah got a very high percentage.

Soon came the time for college admissions. Since Asad’s results were average, he didn’t get admission in a reputable college and the friends ended up splitting as they had to study in different colleges. Since they both became busy, they could only meet on weekends.

Eventually, Abdullah got a scholarship and travelled to UK for higher studies while Asad remained in the same place where they used to live as kids. After 10 years, Abdullah visited Pakistan and met up with Asad. They were both glad to see each other after many years.

Abdullah found a job as a business analyst in UK while Asad joined a local institute as a receptionist. Asad realised that this was the result of not ever reading books, and not listening to parents and teachers. Abdullah advised him that it is never too late and he could start reading from now on and do some short courses to improve himself which would lead to better job opportunities.

Moral of the story: The more you read, the more things you know; the more you learn, the smarter you will be and the better you will get.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 12th, 2019